Pakistani police announced on Tuesday that a 17-year-old TikTok personality, Sana Yousaf, was fatally shot by an individual who had persistently contacted her online.
Sana Yousaf, who recently turned 17 and commanded a social media following exceeding one million, was killed at her Islamabad residence on Monday evening. Authorities have apprehended a 22-year-old male on suspicion of her murder, noting he had been observed loitering outside her home for several hours.
“This was a case of repeated rejections. The boy was trying to reach out to her time and again,” stated Islamabad police chief Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi during a news conference, characterizing the incident as a “gruesome and cold-blooded murder.”
Yousaf had amassed over 800,000 followers on TikTok, a highly popular platform in Pakistan, where she shared lip-sync videos, skincare advice, and promotional content for beauty products. Her final video, posted hours before her death, depicted her celebrating her birthday with a cake. Comments on the video now include messages such as “Rest in Peace” and “Justice for Sana.”
This incident highlights the pervasive issue of violence against women in Pakistan, as documented by the country’s Human Rights Commission. Cases of women being attacked after rejecting marriage proposals are not uncommon. Notable past incidents include the 2021 beheading of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam by her Pakistani-American boyfriend, Zahir Jaffer, after she rejected his proposal, a case that ignited widespread outrage. Similarly, in 2016, Khadija Siddiqui survived a stabbing attack by a rejected ex-boyfriend.
